Ziva's Letter
by Nerwen Aldarion
Summary: Co written with Tinuviel Undomiel: What did Ziva say in her letter to her father? What did she tell Tony after she sent the letter? Read and find out. MAJOR spoilers for 7.03 Inside Man. A bit of Tiva


Disclaimer: We do not own NCIS we are just crazy fans who squeal whenever we see Tony and Ziva together.

A/N: Nerwen Aldarion: Wow two days after finishing Ripped From the Headlines I'm back with a one shot. After watching tonight's episode the muse couldn't be denied, mostly because there is a funny little story behind it. All the way back in April when we saw the final episode of season 6 my sister and I spent most of the night talking about what this could mean for the show and the possible storylines for Ziva. The story Reconcile came from this talk and while we were figuring out the story we came up with the ending in which...Ziva resigns from Mossad and becomes a full NCIS agent!!!

Soooo...many months later, Reconcile still isn't finished but we are sitting down watching the third episode of season 7 and guess what happens....Ziva resigns from Mossad and wants to be a full NCIS agent!!! WE WERE RIGHT!!!! Seriously we just couldn't believe it, we were screaming and jumping up and down and we just really wanted to share this little laugh with you guys.

A/N: Tinuviel Undomiel: Right after tonight's episode, I couldn't stop thinking about Ziva's letter to her father. I imagine that it must have been a hard one for her to write and I was still buzzing from the unbelievable discovery that the crazy little idea of Ziva becoming an NCIS agent is coming true. I couldn't help myself and had to write down how I think Ziva's letter might have gone. I wrote the letter portion while Nerwen wrote the little Tiva scene at the end. We couldn't help but add a little Tiva-ness to this mix.

In Reunion, Ziva told Gibbs, "Eli is all but dead to me" but her the fact that she started with "Dear Father" suggested that despite the pain, she still loves him but she probably knows that their relationship will never be repaired. I hope I accomplished this.

Look For: A little Ziva-idiom I purposefully put in for a laugh and a hint of Tiva within the letter.

* * *

Dear Father,

It has been several weeks since we last talked. Truth is I do not remember a time when we really talked. Our entire relationship has revolved around Mossad and the war effort. I suppose this is not the best way to discuss matters, but I feel written words have worked better for us than spoken ones.

I have come to a decision about what I want to do with the rest of my life. I believe that these past years away from Israel have given me a new perspective on what I want. Actually, I do not believe, I _know_ it has done that.

With this letter, I offer my resignation as a Mossad Officer. They are words I never thought I would write, but I have done it and I am not ashamed. I no longer belong there. I can no longer trust its leader.

Yes, Father, it is true. I can no longer trust you. It is painful for me to admit it, but I cannot deny its existence. We have grown apart. I think it started when you ordered Ari's death. At the time I did not believe you, so I could not fathom why a father would turn on his son. I think I realize now that Ari was never your son. He was tool necessary to break a hole in Hamas. But he was my brother and I still treasure my memories with him, despite the fact that he betrayed me.

You were right about him. He was a traitor. But your motives were not of a soldier defending his country, but of a man correcting a grave error. With this insight, I know I can no longer work beside you. I would rather work alongside people who do not lie about their mistakes, but confess them and learn from them.

As the Americans say, I can no longer be a dog with two owners. I have decided to stay with NCIS if they will accept me as an agent. You are not surprised by this I'm sure. I doubt you are even surprised by this letter.

You knew it would eventually come to this. That is why you pushed me towards Michael. You wanted to test my loyalties, to see if I would obey Mossad or NCIS. I thought I could do my duty as drilled into me in Mossad and give up my life here, but now I know that I was betraying myself. I have given my loyalty to NCIS because Mossad is no longer loyal to me.

I have a home here. I have a family amongst my friends. There is one I hope who will be more than just family one day. I am sure you know who I mean. These are people I care about, more importantly, who I can trust. They have my back and they offer me something you never gave me: a shoulder to lean on.

You always said that needing someone to hold you up is a weakness, but I no longer think this is so. You can have the courage and strength to be alone, but when the time comes to face your enemy, you have no one to pick you up when you fall. There is strength in relying on someone for support, strength you cannot see and I fear you never will.

I know you must be disappointed in me, but the truth is we disappointed each other. You never gave me what I always wanted and that was a family. Maybe with my resignation, we can be father and daughter at last and no longer director and officer. I am sorry if you cannot accept this. I truly wish things could have been better.

I hope with time you will forgive me for disappointing you. I forgave you long ago.

Still, and I hope to always be, your daughter,

Ziva

* * *

Tony hadn't been expecting any visitors so the knock on the door was a surprise to him. Still what surprised him more was that he wasn't shocked by who was behind the door; he had almost expected Ziva to come by. It wasn't the first time she had shown up on his doorstep without a word, usually when she simply didn't want to be alone. And with her recent behavior in mind, it was clear that she needed someone just to be there.

Ziva didn't say a word, just walked through the door and sat down on his couch. She took a swig of his beer that he'd left sitting on the coffee table. She seemed to be seeing something else, who or what, Tony had no idea.

Finally she looked up at him and put on an obviously fake smile, "What are we watching?"

Another familiar setting: movie night. It had started off with him dragging her to his apartment and putting something on, with her never admitting that she ever liked the movies until he spied most of said movies in her own apartment a few months later. Eventually Tony also figured out that movie night was also code that she needed to talk but she still needed a few minutes to gather up the courage to speak, a movie gave her plenty of time.

He smiled at her, "Hmm a classic, _The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance_, one of the Duke's finest films. Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin. A classic tale of western heroism and justice. Then there's the added question of who _really _shot…

"Just put the movie on Tony."

"Sure."

Tony quickly found the DVD he'd spoken of and inserted it into the player. As the opening credits rolled, he left Ziva to the movie to get himself another beer as well as some popcorn to complete the mood of the night.

The silence continued between the two of them as the movie continued through its paces first with the funeral at the beginning and then to the flashback telling the truth of what happened between the main characters. Tony kept sneaking peeks at Ziva, her eyes were focused on the screen but he could tell that she was still thinking about whatever it was that was bothering her.

Sometimes he had to just start it off, "Abby said you didn't want to have dinner with her…you said you had something to do."

Ziva looked at him with a blank gaze, "I did."

Damn she was good. "Ducky's worried about you too, he thinks that more happened in Somalia then you are telling," He held her gaze; "I think so too."

Ziva looked down, twisting the beer bottle in her hands, biding time to answer the question, finally she took a deep breath, "A lot happened in Somalia…a lot of things that I'm not ready to speak about," she admitted honestly. Ziva looked back up at Tony, "But that isn't why I came here."

Tony raised an eyebrow, "Okay…why _are_ you here?"

She sighed again, "The Liaison Officer position with NCIS is being terminated."

That wasn't what Tony had been expecting, "You're going back to Israel?!" He rose from his seat as he spoke. There was both shock and anger in his voice, after everything that had happened and all they had done for her she was still leaving!

She held up a hand to sit him back down "No Tony, I'm not going back."

That helped lower his blood pressure but only added new questions, "But then what are you going to do?"

Ziva's composure didn't change, she looked at him with pained eyes, "I sent my father a letter," she explained, "in it I told him that I knew now who I could and could not trust. That I was no longer the same woman that I was five years ago, I am no longer the Mossad Officer that I used to be…and I do not want to be that woman again."

She looked him in the eyes now so he could understand the true impact of her words, "I told him that I am resigning from Mossad. With the recommendation from Gibbs and Director Vance's approval I will become a full NCIS agent. NCIS is where my family is; you McGee, Gibbs, Abby and Ducky…all of you are who I truly care about and who care about me. I cannot leave you again…and I do not want to."

Tony looked at her with a mixture of admiration and pride. He smiled softly as he took a sip of his beer, "Good letter," was all he said.

She smiled, "I thought so too."

There was silence once more between them but the awkwardness had melted away, now it was replaced with a comfort that was reminiscent of the companionship they had felt before. Tony chuckled softly and her curious expression prompted him to explain, "I was just thinking, McGee is going to be thrilled, he won't be the Probie anymore."

Suddenly a mischievous glint came to his eye and before he could draw breath to speak she placed a finger to his lips and glared at him, "Before you say a word you should know that with one glance I saw over twenty objects that I could _easily_ kill you with."

"Noted," he replied with a smug grin. So there would be no calling her "Probie" if he wanted to live.

Instead Tony gave a mock toast with his beer bottle in her direction, "It's good to have you back Ziva."

* * *

A/N: So what did you think? Please review, we love feedback. We really like the last line, "It's good to have you back," it symbolises these last three episodes of NCIS since like MANY fans of the show, we were less than satisfied with season 6 but these last three episodes have truly showed us the show is back on track so like Ziva, it's good have have the real NCIS back.


End file.
